A Challenge on Infinite Earths
by Tall on the Inside
Summary: He laughed and he joked and he looked into those gleaming, soft pink eyes and he knew that it was going to be a long ride. A long ride indeed. ((for the thirty day au challenge on tumblr))
1. Day One: Hogwarts

Hinata Hajime had always thought of himself as normal. There was nothing particularly interesting about Hinata Hajime that was particularly special or interesting. Or, at least, there wasn't anything interesting about he that he had noticed. His parents had often thought that strange things happened around him. For example, he had this one strand of hair that would grow back as soon as it was cut and stuck up at an odd angle. He also had the strange habit of turning up in unusual places with no memory of how he'd gotten there; one time, during a class game, he'd ended up on the roof of the school, and another time he'd ended up sat on top of his car.

Hinata's entire view of himself had changed on the day that he'd received a letter from Hope's Peak Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry; a letter which was followed by a visit from a tall man, who explained that Hinata was, in fact, a wizard.

In some ways, his parents were glad to hear the news, because it made sense with all the weird things Hinata did (although Hinata himself never saw these things), but they were also somewhat shocked and horrified. The man did a good job of convincing them that there was nothing wrong with it. In fact, he did such a good job of convincing Hinata's parents that he was starting to suspect that it might have been magic.

It wasn't magic, however, that got him to Shibuya Station on the first day of the new school year; it was his father's car. That being said, Hinata had no idea which train to get on, considering that he'd been given a ticket that said nothing other than "Ticket for School Train" on it. He just hoped the answer would present itself after he arrived. He considered asking the statue the dog that guarded the station which train to get on, but then he realised that talking to statues was pretty stupid. He also realised that magic and the idea of being a wizard in general was pretty stupid and came to the conclusion that this was some giant joke being played on him by some of his friends in order to make him look like a total dick, and decided to call his father and ask to be picked up.

He felt incredibly stupid and angry now, considering that he had bought new school supplies, like a wand and robes and all this other crap. He felt even more stupid when he realised that he had believed he was actually doing magic with the wand, and that when the tall man who claimed to be Hope's Peak's headmaster had done some fancy tapping on the wall outside some shopping centre and led him down some small alley into a load of shops selling magical items, he had believed that it was real. It was probably a trick. There was nothing special about him. Magic wasn't real. Hinata thought he might cry.

At least, he felt completely disillusioned with the whole thing, until he heard a soft voice ask, "How long is it until your sister moves up to Hope's Peak, Naegi-kun?" and a bright, cheery reply of, "She starts next year, actually, Kirigiri-san. Why do you ask?"

Usually, Hinata didn't listen to stranger's conversations, and usually, on a busy station like this, the conversation of students a little older than him talking in loud tones wouldn't catch his attention, but this time, the students had said the words he wanted to hear.

Usually, Hinata didn't follow totally random strangers, but this time, those strangers were heading to the one place he wanted to be. And so he followed the trio; a tall, blonde boy with glasses who contributed to most of the conversation by making pretentious "hmph" sounds, a short boy with messy hair and a hoodie, and a girl with long, light coloured hair who seemed perfectly happy to just let the hoodie-boy talk. The three of them were lugging small suitcases behind them, like Hinata himself, though Hinata's was larger, which made him wonder if he had to leave certain things at school when the year ended, and suddenly stopped at one of the large pillars marking the platform. Hinata almost collided with them, and had to freeze completely to avoid bumping into them.

He could feel himself pale in shock as the tallest boy leant against the pillar in a completely casual manner, and then slowly melted into it. The other boy sighed, then extended his hand, indicating fo the girl to go first, and she just walked into the pillar. It was like she was swallowed by it. The remaining student looked from left to right before walking through the pillar in the same way.

It was starting to dawn on Hinata that this was the way to get to his train. He gulped, felt his grip around his suitcase tighten, and just walked towards the pillar, purposefully, not even noticing that he was slowly picking up speed and getting faster and faster and faster until -

The bang he was expecting did not come. Instead, he felt like he was passing through a cold shower for a second, and then, nothing. He opened eyes he didn't even realise he'd closed, and found himself on another platform, with another train. This platform was lined with students in the uniform he'd purchased for Hope's Peak, and their parents were dressed weirdly and hugging them and saying goodbye, and Hinata knew that this was his train, despite the fact he still had no idea where he was. He glanced back to the ticket in his hand, which almost felt warmer, and a tall, smiling man with wild hair and a disheveled uniform said, "Yeah, this is the right train."

"Oh," Hinata looked from the ticket to the man and his gravity-defying hair. "Do you, um, work on the train?"

"More than that, Hinata-chi," he beamed. Hinata was momentarily distraught, because he had no idea how this strange man knew his name, but before he had a chance to ask, he was told, "I work at Hope's Peak. I'm the Divination teacher, and I see great things in your future."

Hinata didn't have any idea how to respond to that. "Then why are you on the train?"

"I..." The man rubbed the back of his neck. "I got lost and forgot where the school is. Don't worry though, the train will take us there!"

He grimaced. He didn't very much want to be sat on a train with this man, let alone be in a lesson taught by him. He left, dragging his case behind him, and popped his ticket in the scanner. The barrier opened for him, and Hinata was glad for a second that witches and wizards at least used modern traveling methods. He left the Divination teacher a good way behind him. The man was looking for his ticket.

The train to Hope's Peak had compartments, which Hinata found odd; the train he used to ride into school had no such thing. He wasn't even sure he'd ever been on a train with compartments on in his life. He searched for a free compartment for a while, but had no luck. He gave up, deciding to take a seat in the compartment with the least people in. In the end, he settled for one with a small girl curled up in the corner. He slid the door open and peered inside. "Do you mind?" he asked, before dragging his case in.

The girl didn't reply.

"Excuse me?!" he called, a little louder. "Do you mind?"

This seemed to startle the girl, and she looked up at him before smiling and nodding. Hinata pulled his case in, and, with a little difficulty, attempted to place it in the luggage rack. It was nice that the train had one of those. Hinata hadn't been on a train like this, ever.

He took the seat furthest away from the girl, not wanting to disturb her. She was sat by the window, intensely watching the screen of what looked to be a 3DS. Her eyes reflected the image slightly, seeming to gleam pink, and her hair dangled in front of her face, loose with wavy ends.

"I'm Hinata Hajime," Hinata said, before realising the girl had headphones in.

The compartment was silent, bar the sound of her fingers tapping furiously. Hinata came to the conclusion that this was going to be a long ride. He should have brought a book.

"Nanami Chiaki," the girl suddenly said, somewhat quietly, almost a mumble.

"I'm sorry?"

The girl hit pause and looked up. "Nanami Chiaki," she repeated. "It's my name."

"Oh," Hinata nodded his understanding. "Pleased to meet you, Nanami."

"Same to you, Hinata-kun," she nodded back, smiling slightly. Her gaze flickered down slightly, and she resumed play, but Hinata noticed she'd taken one of her headphones out, and assumed this was invitation to carry on conversation.

"What are you playing?" he asked, leaning forward.

She shrugged. "It's a muggle game; you've probably never heard of it."

Hinata's brow furrowed. "Muggle?"

"You don't know what a muggle is?" She didn't look up at him.

"Well, no," Hinata admitted, "and I quite like to think I'm at least a little big on the gaming scene. I mean, I played Dangan Ronpa-"

"It's not a company," she chuckled, toggling the L and R buttons, "it's a term. For non-magical folk."

Hinata nodded. "That'd be why I didn't know what it meant."

"Ah." She hit a button and looked up at him. "Sorry. Didn't consider you might be muggle-born."

"Are you, um, muggle-born too?" Hinata asked. "Only I find it kinda strange that a witch would be playing on a, uh, muggle console."

Nanami returned her gaze back to her game. "No. Half-blood."

Hinata made a gurgling confused sound, and was about to ask what that was before Nanami glanced up quickly. "My dad's a muggle, but my mum's a witch," she explained, her gaze returning to her game quickly. "Or it could be the other way round... I don't really remember..."

"Surely you see one of them doing magic, and don't see the other one doing it?" Nanami began to frown, and Hinata began to panic he'd done something wrong. "I mean," he continued, despite her darkening expression, "wouldn't one of them have taught you about the wizarding world and..."

She rolled her eyes upwards at him, glaring. Shit. He'd made a mistake. Hinata looked down, worried he'd ruined his first chance at making a friend.

The train started to move. The compartment was silent.

"I'm playing Ace Attorney," Nanami said, finally.

"The pointy lawyer games?" Hinata asked. Nanami nodded.

"You can watch, if you like," she mumbled. Hinata didn't need much more of an invitation; he was nervous enough about starting a wizarding school, let alone starting it alone. He moved into the seat next to her.

As she played, she told him about Hope's Peak, and about the wizarding world. Hinata made sure not to ask about her family again. He learnt about it's weird customs and laws and sports and he laughed and he joked and he looked into those gleaming, soft pink eyes and he knew that it was going to be a long ride.

A long ride indeed.

* * *

**author's note:** originally it was going to be actual hogwarts in england but i was talking to caitlin and i decided against that so now its japan and hopes peak and i know nothing about japan and its education system and i did a hella amount of research for this but hey w/e

ps. i sorted people into houses and kind of want to write an actual hogwarts au so stick around because i might write that as my christmas thing


	2. Day Two: Zombies

When Hinata Hajime blinks his bleary eyes open, there is a girl sat next to him. He knows that the two of them are roughly the same age, although he does not know what his age is, and he knows from the curl of her lips and the spark in her eyes that she is happy to see him. She's pressing something cold to his forehead. It's probably to stop the bleeding from the huge gash on his head.

Oh. There's a gash in his head. That's new. He has a very strong feeling that it's not meant to be there.

"Hinata-kun!" the girl cries, throwing her arms around him and then pulling back, smiling regretfully when she drops the cold flannel she was treating his wound with. She picks it back up and pushes it back against his head. "You're awake."

"I..." Hinata has no idea who this girl is. "I'm sorry but-"

Another voice, male this time, calls out, "Hinata-kun!" in relief. Hinata moves his weary gaze from the girl sat beside him to the boy pacing somewhat in front of him, who kneels down in front of him. "How are you feeling?" he asks, beaming.

"I'm sorry," Hinata begins again, "but I have no idea who any of you are."

The girl's soft, pink eyes instantly widen. "Tsumiki-san!" she says, loudly, panicked. "He doesn't remember who we are."

A third person presents herself by stating, "I t-told you sometimes people g-g-get a little forgetful when they take a knock to the h-head," and crouching down beside Hinata, opposite the first girl. She reaches out and places her hand softly on his cheek, turning his wound towards her and away from the other girl, who let her flannel drop to her side, dejected. "Especially when they've received a knock as impressive as Hinata-san's was."

The boy, perhaps sensing the tense atmosphere, stood up. "I'll go let Mioda-san know Hinata-kun's awake," he tells them, still smiling. "She'll probably be done with her exploration of the building by now."

"I hope," the third girl begins as she brushes Hinata's wound with an antiseptic wipe that leaves it stinging, "that she hasn't run into any t-t-trouble."

"I'm sure she's fine," the first girl says, a little sharp and harshly.

"Well, we'll find out now, won't we?" The boy shrugs and offers them both a wave before heading out. Hinata's head still hurts, and the room starts to spin slightly. He feels a reassuring squeeze on his hand. The first girl is holding it.

The second girl has finished with the antiseptic wipes now, and has reached into what looks like a small school bag to pull out several bandages. She begins to wrap them around his wound, getting awfully close and almost shoving Hinata's face into her cleavage. The grip on his hand tightens.

As she wraps the bandages, she whispers, "You r-r-really don't remember me, Hinata-san?"

"No, sorry," he states, bluntly.

She smiles sadly. "I'm Tsumiki Mikan," she informs him. "We used t-t-o date."

Hinata knows there's something familiar about this girl but he cannot remember anything, even though he feels like he should. "That doesn't bring back anything," he tells her.

"I didn't think it would." Tsumiki pulls away, his head dressed. "There." She leans forwards again and kisses slightly above his wound. "All better."

There's a tug at his hand, and he jerks his head back to the first girl. She's wearing what looks like a bloodstained hoodie that's a little too big for her, and carrying a tattered pink backpack. Her hair is soft and light, a sort of strawberry blonde colour that looks pink in certain lights. He knows that it looks especially pink in the light of his dorm room and that its silky and perfect to touch, like running your hands through the taste of chocolate. He doesn't know how he knows it, especially since now her hair is knotted and clogged with dirt and God only knows what else.

"I'm Nanami Chiaki," she whispers, her voice soft and raspy, "if you've forgotten that, as well."

"Yeah," Hinata laughs awkwardly. "I kind of did. Sorry."

Nanami opens her mouth, and is about to say something else, but the following sound does not come from her. It's a loud, high-pitched squeal, which proceeds a shrill shriek of, "Hajime-chan! You're alive!"

Nanami pushes herself up, and then extends a hand to Hinata, which he willingly takes. Still slightly dizzy, he allows her to do most of the work in getting him to stand on his feet, before a huge force collides with him, yelling, "Ibuki thought she'd never see you again!" as it does.

"M-Mioda-san," Tsumiki begins, cautiously, "it would p-p-probably be best i-if you didn't hug Hinata-s-san right now. He just had a n-n-nasty fall, after all."

"Of course, Mikan-chan!" the newcomer, Mioda, states, letting go of Hinata and raising a hand in a mock salute. "Ibuki didn't forget! She was just happy to see him!"

The boy is stood in the doorway of the dank, desolate room they're gathered in, and he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. "Perhaps I should have waited a little longer before I got Mioda-san."

Tsumiki looks at him with half-lidded eyes, unimpressed. "Perhaps you should have, Komaeda-san."

Hinata takes this opportunity to really survey his surroundings. Now he's stood, and is feeling a little less discombobulated, he can really take in the room they're in. There are pale curtains drawn, and the last trickles of sunlight are slipping through, illuminating the room in a sort of soft brown, beige haze. The boy, Komaeda, has wild hair that Hinata knows is white, but looks grey with dirt. He's wearing a long green coat that is scruffy and ripped and far too long for him. Hanging off of his arm is Mioda, who must have retreated back to him when she finished bouncing Hinata into walls. Her hair is long and dark, with fading highlights. Her clothes appear to be the most damaged; there are rips in her tights and her gloves and her shoes are scuffed. Her shirt is torn and her skirt frayed. She has several silver piercings, all of which are dulled with neglect.

Tsumiki's clothes are tattered and covered in what Hinata can only assume is blood. Her legs are bound with bandages, and she's only wearing one shoe; one the other foot she has a sodden sock, black with mud. It looks like she's shoved the sole of a shoe into the bottom of the sock, but Hinata can't work out for sure. Her arms also have bandages wrapped around them, and something in Hinata's mind says that they're to protect her from getting wounds, not to heal any wounds she's already obtained.

It suddenly strikes him that Komaeda is dressed the same as him, bar the ugly coat. His heart goes cold and stops for a beat when he realises that the tattered, mud stained, bloodsoaked outfit they're all wearing is his school uniform.

Hinata thinks he needs to sit down for a second. He stumbles back, and instantly feels something warm move out to steady him. Nanami is holding him up.

He can briefly hear Komaeda explaining to Mioda that Hinata doesn't remember anything, and Mioda reports that some of the rooms on the second floor have electricity. There's also running water. Tsumiki reminds Mioda they already know that.

"Ibuki didn't see any particularly good ways to escape," Mioda continues, her tone almost a pantomime whisper, like she wants Hinata to hear, "but she also didn't see any ways for the infected to make it in."

"Still," Komaeda groans, "we are effectively trapped here until Hinata-kun is ready to go."

"Ibuki wonders if maybe Nagito-chan was right," Mioda glances at Hinata, then back to Komaeda. Hinata feels Nanami stiffen. "Maybe Hajime-chan should have been left behind."

They were going to leave him behind? Because of his head injury? Hinata doesn't know why, but that hurts him. He supposes it's because, although he does not remember these people, a few moments prior they meant the world to him.

Nanami whispers, "I wouldn't have let them leave you behind. I didn't let them leave you behind," and the shifts her weight slightly, so her grip on Hinata is stronger, more supportive.

"We can sit back down, if you find that easier," Hinata tells her.

She chews her bottom lip. "Would you prefer that?"

He nods, and they sink to the floor. He finds his arm around Nanami's shoulder, and she leans against him slightly. It's comfortable, natural. He feels like he's sat like this a million times before.

"Do you really not remember anything?" she asks, loud enough to attract the attention of the others, who give the pair a glance. "Not even the outbreak?"

The outbreak? Hinata opened his mouth to say no, but closed it again as images flooded his mind; the stretcher, the ambulance, the police, the quarantine. The scent of too many people crowded into an area that they shouldn't be in. The despair. The hopelessness. The certainty of death. And the blood. He remembers the blood.

In the time he's been remembering, Komaeda, Mioda and Tsumiki have gathered around him. Tsumiki is hugging her knees to her chest, Mioda is sat cross-legged, and Komaeda allows his legs to stretch out in front of him. "Do you know what's happening, Hinata-kun?" His cold eyes seem to gaze right into Hinata's soul and pull the memories from him. "Do you know why we're here?"

"The girl..." he mumbles. He remembers the girl. "She... She combined something she shouldn't have... She got sick," he trails off. He remembers the girl. He remembers how she slumped, how her bones seemed to lean against her skin like her skeleton was about to burst from within her and how her eyes were so lost and so sunken.

She was in the year above Hinata, but now that he thinks about it, the whole school probably saw her. Just like the whole school saw what she did to the nurse.

"That 'girl' had a name," Tsumiki growls, her teeth grit.

Hinata nods slowly. "I remember it... Enoshima Junko..."

"And you remember what Enoshima-san did that day, Hinata-kun?" Komaeda pressed onwards. "You remember what she sparked?"

"Yes..." Hinata almost feels like he's in a daze. "The nurse... and the... the quarantine..."

He remembers the quarantine. He remembers his whole school being on lockdown and no one being able to leave. He remembers holding... he remembers holding someone as they cried, and smoothing their hair and promising it would all be okay and that they'd get out of it alive and nothing bad would happen to them and yes, half of their class might be missing, but they still had each other.

He remembers how people would go missing. He remembers that they'd never be seen again after that. He remembers the fear that came with knowing he could be next. He remembers wanting his parents and wanting to get out and promising to keep that person safe.

"And what happened after that, Hinata-kun? What did you do?"

"I... Oh God." Hinata raises a hand to his mouth in horror, and tries to resist the urge to throw up. Because he remembers everything now. He remembers breaking out and he remembers what followed. He remembers the bodies lining the streets and he remembers watching his parents as they breathed their last and he remembers the fighting and the blood and suddenly he notices the axe in Nanami's free hand and he knows her bag is filled with similar weapons. He remembers watching a girl from his school take down monsters with only scissors and he remembers watching Mioda crack one of their heads open with a guitar.

But most of all... Most of all he remembers starting the apocalypse.

"I didn't mean to let the infection out!" he cries, startling Nanami. "I just couldn't take it any more! You said it yourself, Tsumiki, you thought Enoshima planned for this to happen, and that someone would do it eventually anyway!"

Mioda claps. "Yay! Hajime-chan is back!"

Komaeda smiles. "Welcome back, Hinata-kun."

Hinata does not smile. He does not do anything. He doesn't want to be back in his head. He doesn't want to be back with his memories. Now, he is all-too aware of how he got his head wound, and he remembers what happened before the others showed up to escort him to safety. Now that he remembers, he's terrified and sickened and he wants to forget again.

Standing up, Komaeda says, "We might as well make the most of being here. I don't think we should expect any visits from the Infected; I mean, this place was a ghost town when we came here earlier, so I don't see why it should change this evening, or tomorrow, or even the day after."

"Also," Mioda leaps to her feet, "since there's running water here, Ibuki thinks it would be a great opportunity for everyone to wash and bathe!"

It's clear how much Tsumiki wants to wash and bathe. "God, it's been forever since I felt even a little bit clean," she groans, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Ibuki calls the bathroom first!" Mioda yells, grabbing Komaeda's hand and dragging him out of the room. Tsumiki sighs.

"I'll go check for any medicine, or u-useful supplies," she mumbles, getting to her feet.

It's just Hinata and Nanami in the room now.

"I, uh," Hinata has so much to say, but no idea how to say it. The words all tangle together in a jumbled mess in his head. "I'm sorry I forgot you," he decides on finally, his voice barely a whisper.

"Don't be," Nanami's gaze is firmly on the ground, and her voice is a tad wobbly, like she's about to burst into tears. She turns her head slightly to the side, so she's facing him, and brings her gaze upwards. Hinata's olive eyes lock with her watery pink ones, and she snuffles, before smiling and saying, "I'm just glad you remember me now."

Hinata isn't. Nanami isn't the only thing he remembers.

"Just... Just promise me you won't do it again." She licks her lips, and blinks, a few stray teardrops landing that leap of faith and trickling down her pale, grimy cheeks, washing away some of the mud and blood that their journey had caused to accumulate there. "Promise you won't forget me?"

He swallows. He knows he won't be able to keep that promise.

Before he can say anything her lips are on his lips and she tastes salty and sweet and soft and she's perfectly melded for him, the two of them colliding together and clicking together, like puzzle pieces, like magnets, like the most perfect fit of two loose clasps, of broken fragments of a whole, the two of the pushing into each other and staying in place like living lego. His hands find her hair and even though its tangled and clotted and filthy, if he runs his hands through it he can pretend it's still soft as silk because he can remember exactly how each strand felt as it ran between his thumb and his index finger. Her hands find the back of his neck and join together there. She moves closer to him until she's practically hanging off him like a second skin, a jumper that's too baggy, the most beautiful necklace tightly fastened around his neck and positioned exactly over his heart. He's sucking lightly on her lower lip and his tongue is darting over hers and just as quickly as it started, the moment ends, the two of them pulling apart abruptly when Tsumiki coughs loudly to make it clear that she's there.

"Hinata-san," she says, her voice laden with negativity, "I suggest that you wash after Mioda-san is done, so you can make sure your head is cleaned properly. I got you some fresh bandages."

Hinata thanks her, and takes the bandages, leaning back against the wall and talking about idle nothings with Nanami until Komaeda and Mioda return, dripping wet and laughing.

That's when Hinata realises he has to face this.

He kisses Nanami's forehead and makes his way up to the bathroom. The carpet has been torn from the stairs and in some places he treads on the bare wood. The bathroom isn't in good condition, with grey lining the sink and the bath itself. He turns the tap on. His shoulder aches.

He removes his shirt. He runs his hands under the tap, and then runs them through his hair, dislodging dust and dirt. He unwraps the bandage around the gash in his head, and grimaces as the dirty water from his hair trickles into the wound. He splashes water on it, cleaning it out, ignoring both the pain and his reflection.

He moves onto his face, and still he avoids his reflection. He cleans his arms and his chest, and goes over his face again before using a musty, rotten towel to dab his face dry, and then he couldn't deny it any longer. He brings his head up slowly, and his gaze up even slower, until he's looking directly at himself in the mirror, and there it is, bright as day, and huge, swollen, red bite mark.

If he had to guess, Hinata would say he had about three days left, one of which he would spend in unbearable agony.

He sighs, licks his lips, and makes a decision he knows he'll regret. He slips his shirt back on. He buttons it up. He opens the bathroom door and he walks downstairs. He hears the conversation of his friends; it's the happiest its been since before the Enoshima incident.

He takes a deep breath, and he walks inside.

"Tsumiki," he says, "the bathroom's free."

* * *

**author's note: **hhhhhh idk where i wa s going with this but i wen thte re the end its really ear ly in the morning i want to sleep but i said id play cah with someone im ange r

oh well

ill upload this to tumblr tomorrow and try to get the next part of the challenge out then too. night


	3. Day Three: Medieval

The king of the Jabberwock Isles was well-known for being lucky. He'd managed to talk his way out of wars with both the mountain-based country of Hope's Peak and the most powerful, fastest growing nation in the world, the so-called "Empire of Despair". He had saved the kingdom from famine twice, and secured it's citizens safety through an incredible foreign policy and an alliance with Novoselic. He was old and wise, and in his old age was becoming increasingly more and more fascinated with the concept of hope. In fact, he wanted to be remembered as the king who brought hope back to the Islands, and most of his subjects were happy to remember him as such (though a few would rather he was remembered as the king who wouldn't shut the fuck up).

However, even though he had done a number of good things, King Komaeda never married, and never produced an heir. He often spoke of picking someone at random, of leaving the choice to luck, since fortune had favoured him so many times before. He wasn't to know that Empress Enoshima had had her eyes on the Jabberwock Isles since she had brutally executed both the entire Royal Family and the entire government of her own country, leading a rebellion that had virtually no cause, other than to get her into power. Years of peace had made the king weak, and due to his age he was in no position to lead anyone into battle. Empress Enoshima was tall, young and fit. Her army was the largest and strongest, and, if she really wanted to, she could end her ongoing war with Hope's Peak in a matter of moments.

The thing was, she didn't really want to. Empress Enoshima thrived on the despair of others. It would be incredible to expand her empire, it would be thrilling to walk over the dead bodies of it's royals, it would make her heart stop with joy to hold Queen Kirigiri, that damned pest, and make her watch the execution of her advisors and chancellors before eventually killing her, but it would also be fun to imagine Kirigiri spend late nights surveying maps, her ever-present, ever-loyal Naegi beside her, General Oogami apologising for the loss of life their latest battle had caused, Chancellor Togami ripping his hair out at how much they were spending to fund this war. Enoshima liked to imagine Kirigiri's hopelessness; the woman who had rose to take her father's throne, who'd been taught nothing other than how to rule, lost, desperate, with no father to go crying to, no one older or more experienced to help guide her.

Enoshima thrived on the despair of others, so she couldn't quite bring herself to deal the final blow in obliterating those shitty mountains, and wiping it's officials off the face of the Earth, because she took too much pleasure in imagining how said officials were suffering at present. Commander Ikusaba, leader of Enoshima's armies and also her older sister, frequently reminded her that victory was well withing their power, but the Empress merely brushed it off. No, she was not yet done with Hope's Peak. She would see others fall first.

Her plan was to infiltrate Jabberwock from the inside, and then invade Novoselic through Jabberwock. Oh, would that fuck them up. The Principality of Novoselic was generally well-liked. Poor Princess Sonia. She'd have no idea what was happening. Her armies would fall in seconds. She'd believe that her own allies had betrayed her. What an unfortunate turn of events. Hope's Peak would feel obligated by it's appallingly high moral code to get involved, and to help little Novoselic out. That would be when Enoshima would strike. The armies of both Jabberwock and Novoselic would turn on those purple-clad knights, and they'd fall. Queen Kirigiri and her council wouldn't last much longer after that. It was such an ingenious idea, Enoshima thought, that also generated enough despair that she wouldn't feel any sense of loss when it was carried out.

However, this plan relied heavily on whoever Komaeda chose as his successor, and their co-operation. It didn't matter to Enoshima whether that co-operation was unwilling or unknowing. She just needed them to go along with whatever she wanted them to go along with, a silent puppeteer, her presence unknown and unwanted.

There was a chance that whomever she sent to infiltrate Jabberwock would be found out and executed, but Enoshima was more than willing to take that chance, just as several of her subjects were willing to die for her. All she had to do was wait.

...

Nanami Chiaki was not anything particularly special. She was good with a bow and a sword because she saw fighting as nothing more than a game, but she could go nowhere with that skill due to the fact that Jabberwock didn't have an army, nor did it feel it needed one. The King could avoid wars with his words, and were they to be invaded Novoselic would step in and sort it out.

It had been more than a little shock when she had been selected by the Royal Guard, the closest thing Jabberwock had to a military. She had first assumed that it was due to her interest in joining, but was quickly told that, of all the citizens of the Jabberwock Isles, she alone had been selected by King Komaeda to rule after him.

That had been the last thing she'd expected.

King Komaeda seemed nice enough himself, and claimed that Nanami "filled him with hope", but she had her doubts. She was far too young to take the throne, she wasn't smart enough or strong enough and had little faith in her ability to rule anywhere near as well as Komaeda had. The Military Guard did their best to reassure her that she'd one day be able to take his place, that King Komaeda wouldn't necessarily die that year, or the following, or the decade after, that she'd be properly raised and taught and would one day be everything he was as a leader. After all, it was his luck that had chosen her. Despite this, she was still scared. She had no faith in herself, and the Military Guard didn't help with that.

There was one person, however, who did make her feel like one day she would rule successfully.

Hinata Hajime worked in the castle kitchen, and Nanami had met him accidentally. She disliked the clothes she was expected to wear when attending lessons, and had been planning to sneak down to the servants quarters to steal some of theirs, when Hinata, who had overslept, turned the corner and the two collided.

"Watch where you're going!" he'd yelled, rubbing his head. Nanami had made hand signals in an attempt to get him to quiet down, but he carried on yelling. "Who do you think you are, running around corners like that?! Are you looking to get hurt?! You know what some of the servants in this section are like, you'd've been in real shit if I'd been a member of the Royal Guard on my way back from punching some scum into a bag of bones."

Nanami would have been in some shit, and she still stood a chance of getting into it if Hinata hadn't shut up. She whispered, "I understand your point, but please, cease your yelling. I'd hate for us to attract any more attention."

"What?" His words had the slightest hint of an accent, but he spoke as though he'd been speaking this language his entire life. "Who- ?" He began to ask, but his eyes travelled from Nanami's face to her dress to her face again, and then widened in realisation. "No..."

She smiled guiltily. "I'm sorry for bumping into you like this, good sir. It wasn't my intention to be seen by anyone, much less to find myself hitting someone like this. I do hope I did not hurt you too badly?"

He shook his head, transfixed. "No, no, not at all. I just... I can't believe it's you! I mean, I've seen you when you've made public appearances and there's a portrait of you and the king that I pass every now and again but... but you're a lot more beautiful than anyone makes you out to be."

Unsure what to say, Nanami chewed her lip, feeling her cheeks heat up. "Thank you," she said, eventually. "And I am sorry for running into you like this."

He shook his head. "It's no problem at all. I'm Hinata Hajime. Why are you down here? Shouldn't you be learning or studying or sleeping?"

Nanami wished she was sleeping. "To tell you the truth, Hinata-kun, I'm presently trying my best to avoid attending my lessons. I find them dreadfully boring."

A smile crept over Hinata's face, and he ran a hand through his messy hair. One strand of it stuck upwards in an impossible seeming manner. "Would you like me to show you what we do to avoid doing things that are "dreadfully boring"?" Nanami, of course, would have said no, if he hadn't added, "We play this game-"

"Teach me it," she'd demanded, her reaction almost instant.

Hinata laughed. "With pleasure."

...

King Komaeda died peacefully, in his sleep, a few years after Nanami had met Hinata. She was crowned at nineteen, the youngest Queen the Jabberwock Isles had seen coronated. Her first few acts only served to strengthen the alliance with Novoselic, as Princess Sonia took an instant like to her, and approved of Nanami's aims to re-militarise Jabberwock. The idea was that now, Jabberwock could aid Novoselic, were it to be attacked, and that Jabberwock could finally ally itself with Hope's Peak and send them troops to help them in their never-ending war with Enoshima's Empire. Nanami had huge plans for Jabberwock, and her subjects were ready for this change. They felt naked without Komaeda's luck, and trusted whatever Nanami would do would keep them safe, and keep that luck alive.

However, there was one decision that Nanami's subjects didn't approve of, and that was to promote a kitchen boy to the Military Guard. Nanami explained that she needed someone she trusted to head it, now that the former members of the Guard were enrolled in the army, but Commander Kuzuryuu and General Pekoyama still insisted they could protect the country and their queen at the same time.

Nanami ignored this, of course, and every night she would hold meetings with Hinata Hajime, head of the Guard, and he would escort her to her sleeping quarters, and he would offer to watch over her that night, and stand guard outside her rooms, but she would instead glance left, then right, and invite him in and the two would talk and kiss and make each other promises they probably couldn't keep, because Hinata Hajime was the only person the Queen would trust with her plans, with her most intimate thoughts, with her heart. And that was exactly how Empress Enoshima wanted it, because if Hinata Hajime found reason to attack Novoselic, then Hinata Hajime would make it clear to the Queen that this was how he felt. Because it was Hinata Hajime saying it, the Queen would trust him. Because the Queen trusted him, Empress Enoshima's plans would blossom and bloom and flourish.

Because of Hinata Hajime, Empress Enoshima had the world in the palm of her hands.

* * *

**author's note: **i wrote this in school yesterday and i had no idea where to go with it so i just made this and im sorry that its not much.  
the ending is ambiguous so you can decide whether junko takes over the world or whether hinata is really in love with nanami and confesses.  
ye ah originally it was going to have jousting and shit in it but i really hate the medieval times because medieval england was fucked up so i didnt want to write about it that much. apologies for the late upload, i had friends round yesterday and it would not have been sociable to write during that.


	4. Day Four: Spies

Despite being a school entirely funded by the government, Hope's Peak does not exist on any of it's official records. Despite being a specialist school, there's no entry exam or registration programme. It's one of the most prestigious school's in the country, and yet it doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to how it recruits students; the most bizarre and unrelated students would be selected via letter and asked to attend, and seldom would they refuse.

Hope's Peak acts in such a strange way because it is not a mere school. It doesn't merely educate, it trains. It's full, official name, which has been wiped from any and all documents that may contain it, is Hope's Peak Academy of Espionage and Reconnaissance. It takes in students who show potential skills that could be utilised by agencies that operate in the shadows, government factions that don't strictly speaking exist. Students who look like they can fight, or lie, or cheat, or steal, or lead, or hack, or programme, or investigate, or just keep the whole operation a secret. The charismatic, the hopeful, the deceitful, the athletic, the intelligent - there's a place for them at Hope's Peak. And after they leave Hope's Peak, there's a place for them in the cracks and crevices of society, in government-bought headquarters for agencies that aren't real and cannot be found on any records or documents of any kind.

The school mixes lessons on how to kill, disarm bombs, hack into databases and break out of prisons with Maths, foreign languages, Science. It's students look, from the outside, to be the most promising in the country. And the outside does see them, sometimes, but only when they're allowed to.

It doesn't see them when they're sent on their first attempts at a mission. This is where Hinata Hajime is now. This is why he's dressed in dark colours and carrying an extremely heavy rucksack, in the middle of some arctic wilderness, surrounded by snow and little else, listening to Komaeda Nagito babble on about something, even though he should be listening to Nanami Chiaki explain what's going on through his earpiece. He's a member of a small, six person squad, led by Sonia Nevermind, who's back at their base with Nanami, watching over their mission through cameras and projections and diagrams.

They haven't been told too much about their mission, other than it's their first non-simulation. The other two members of their team, Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko and Pekoyama Peko, were dispatched earlier, and in a different location, meaning that they had two mission objectives, but Hinata couldn't make any sense of what's going on from that. Komaeda is beside him, ranting about something, and Hinata just wants him to shut the fuck up, but getting hostile won't help his mission.

Through his earpiece, Nanami's soft, gentle voice reminds him, "You need to enter through the sewage pipes. The grate should be coming up right about now, if you carry on in the direction you're going. Also, Komaeda-kun, you really need to stop talking so loudly; the pipes will project your voice."

"Got it, Nanami-san," Komaeda nods. "How's the first dispatch team doing?"

"That is none of your concern," Sonia's voice is blasted through Hinata's mind, stern and yet friendly, softened slightly by a lilting accent. "Were that information of any relevance or benefit to your mission, you would have been given it. You were not."

Komaeda laughs. "I'm sorry, I was just asking-"

"Perhaps you should focus on the mission at hand," Sonia's tone is chiding, as if she's Komaeda's mother. "This isn't a simulation; if you fail, you really fail. If you get shot, you were really shot. If you die-"

"We're well aware of the risks," Hinata cuts in. "Let's just get this over with."

He hears Nanami's gentle noise of agreement, before she asks, "Do you see the grate yet, Hinata-kun?"

"Not yet," he mutters. "I think I can make something out-"

"I can see it, Nanami-san," Komaeda says cheerfully. "I'm not sure I much want to though!"

"Why?" Hinata can almost hear the way Nanami's brows furrow from her tone. "What's wrong?"

Komaeda chuckles again. "It's surrounded by guards. They can probably hear everything we're saying."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Hinata asks, but as he pivots around he can see exactly what Komaeda is on about. Five heavily dressed men are stood beside the grate, one of them tossing a pair of nunchucks from hand to hand, the others smiling menacingly. "He's right," he murmurs, gulping. "We are surrounded and have been spotted."

"But that's impossible!" Sonia cries. Hinata can hear footsteps, and he knows she must be frantically running around the base, checking screens and stats.

"We're not picking anything up, Hinata-kun," Nanami's tone is laced with worry. Komaeda steps forwards, his fists raised, ready to engage the guards in battle. "Someone must have leaked info to them. They're not only expecting us, but they've seen out equipment and know how to cloak themselves from it."

Hinata thinks he can hear Sonia mutter, "Oh God... You don't think that's why we lost communication with-" but then there's a huge bang and Komaeda, who is kicking one of the guards, suddenly yells and rips his earpiece out. The small distraction was enough for the men to grab at him.

"Hinata-kun!" he screams. "Run!"

And Hinata doesn't need to be told twice. He's spun around and is running as fast as he can. This is why he was recruited, after all. His sheer speed is unmatchable, his reflexes and wits sharp and quick. As he runs, he shouts, "Nanami! Contact Kirigiri and let him know this has all gone to pot!"

He doesn't get a response from Nanami, though. He just hears some form of commotion, loud banging and crashing sounds, a few grunts and thumps, like someone is getting continuously battered or hit.

"Nanami!" he cries again, checking over his shoulder to see that Komaeda is being carried away by one of the men and that three of them are hot on his heels and dear God please say that the snow he's currently struggling through isn't red with blood. "NANAMI!"

Nothing.

It's freezing cold and there a tears pricking the edges of his eyes but he's still running. He can't salvage this mission. No one can. Not if Nanami's gone. Oh God, please don't let Nanami be gone.

Hinata never had a chance to tell her how much she meant to him. Hinata never got to hold her hand, kiss her pale cheeks, run his hands through that silken strawberry hair, that hair that appeared a soft pink when her round face was illuminated by computer screens as it was so very often. He never got to hold her, full stop, or kiss her, full stop. He never got to whisper, "I love you," and hear her gentle voice whisper it back.

His face is stinging with cold, and his tears aren't helping. He's only a child. He's barely fifteen. This isn't the sort of things he should be doing. He should be getting into fights with his mum and complaining about homework and going out on dates and getting into trouble for that. He shouldn't be risking his life. Nanami shouldn't be risking her life. Nanami shouldn't be gone.

"Na... Nanami?" he whispers, one more time, starting to run out of breath, run out of energy, starting to give up on running. He's going to get caught and hurt anyway. He just wants to hear her voice one more time, before whatever these men plan to do to him happens. "Nanami, are you there?"

There's static, and then footsteps. Cautious footsteps. "Hi- Hinata-kun?"

"Nanami!" he cries, well aware he's about to be caught. "You're okay."

"Our base was attacked. We held them off. We suspect another wave will be upon us in moments. Are you alright? Did you get away?"

"No," Hinata's breath comes in heaves. "I'm running. I'm going to break this earpiece in a second, so that when they catch me, they can't utilise it."

"That doesn't really matter," an exhausted Sonia states, "they already know where we are."

"Hinata-kun," Nanami sounds determined. "We're getting the supplies we need, and then we're coming after you. Just... Just stay alive."

"Nanami, don't risk it!" Hinata screams. "I'm not worth it!"

"We have to finish the mission," Sonia shouts. "That's what we're doing."

There's a pause, and when Nanami speaks next, her breath sounds heavier, and her nose stuffy, like she's crying. "We'll be there as soon as we can, Hinata-kun. Please, do your best to survive."

Hinata's bottom lip trembles. "Y- You too," he stutters, and then his world goes black in a blaze of pain.

...

They had been a group of six. They were some of the most promising students in their class. Now look at them. It's almost too much for Nanami to bare. Tears start to roll down her cheeks, but Sonia stays strong; or, at least, she does a good job of appearing unbothered. Nanami supposes this is why she's team leader.

"Nanami-san," Sonia's voice doesn't waver, as Nanami's would, "I think that it's very evident someone on our team leaked some form of information."

Nanami's heart goes still. "You don't... You don't suspect me, do you, Sonia-san?"

Sonia licks her lips, and tosses the braid she's tied her hair in for this mission over her shoulder. "It must have been one of us," she says, turning around to face Nanami. The two had been walking for a while, trying to put as much distance between themselves and their base as possible. It had began to snow while they were walking, and light flakes brush pass Nanami's face. They land in her eyelashes and she wants to brush them away, but she can't take her gaze off of Sonia. "It doesn't make any sense for any of the others to do it; they've all been hurt and held captive because of this. We're the only ones who haven't."

"We would have been taken captive too, if we hadn't fought back," Nanami's voice is weak. She's crying and she's scared, and Sonia has this gleam in her eyes as she shakes her head, and steps towards Nanami.

"I think we were meant to overpower them, Nanami-san," she mutters. "I think they sent their weakest agents after their precious spy, and they told those agents to go easy on her, so she could make her escape."

"That's not true..."

"Admit it, Nanami-san!" Sonia screams. "You're the traitor, and our teammates- No, our friends could be injured or dead or worse because of you!"

"That's not true!" Nanami shouts, dropping to her knees, ignoring the bite of the cold. Her tears flow freely now. "It's not true at all!"

"Who else could it be?!" The wind is growing stronger and louder, and Sonia's voice is too. "Who other than you, Nanami-san?!"

Nanami can't bring herself to answer. She just sits there, in the stinging cold, her lips trembling, her breaths heaving, her shoulders shaking.

Sonia seems to take her sobbing as a confession, and she licks her chapped lips, nodding. "Of course. It makes perfect sense now. The 78th Class, the ones who came before us and went insane and killed each other... You were friends with some of them, weren't you, Nanami-san?"

"I'm not... I didn't... I'd never hurt you!" Nanami cries. Her voice is meek, and she would have wiped her eyes, and maybe even her nose, with the back of her sleeve, but she senses this isn't the right time. She can't bring herself to meet Sonia's gaze.

"Prove it," Sonia states, her voice finally becoming clogged with emotion. "Prove you aren't a traitor! Prove you aren't working against us, and that you didn't try to bring us all down!"

"Prove that you're not working with them," Nanami forces her head up, and stares deeply into Sonia's eyes. "Prove that Kuzuryuu-kun or Pekoyama-san or Komaeda-kun or... or Hinata-kun aren't working with them. All you have to go on is this idea that we didn't get hurt, and they did, and we don't even have any proof that any of them got hurt!"

The blonde is silent for a moment, before she snaps. "I don't have time to listen to a traitors lies," she spits, pulling her gun from it's holster. "Give me one good reason not to end this, right here, right now."

Nanami's eyes widen. The gulps. "Because I'm not a traitor," she says, calmly. "I didn't hurt any of you."

Sonia shakes her head, and clicks back the safety, and Nanami suddenly knows that no matter what she says, Sonia won't believe her. She chokes out a, "Please, Sonia-san, don't do this," and wets her dry lips, feeling even more tears stream down her cheek. Her eyes are sticky and her heart is racing.

"I don't know who I can trust anymore," Sonia screams. There are tears eroding her sharp cheekbones and elegant face. The hand holding the gun is shaking. "I don't know if I can believe you!"

"Please," Nanami whispers. "Please believe me."

Sonia steadies her aim. Nanami closes her eyes. The wind whips around her, and pulls at her clothes and sends her hair flying back and forth. The only sound she hears is breathing; her slow, heavy breaths that have accepted they are numbered, and Sonia's loud, panicked breaths, untrusting, scared, plentiful.

Nanami waits for the bang, but it doesn't come. She hears Sonia collapse into the snow. She hears Sonia shriek and wail and sob, but she stays put, and she keeps her eyes closed.

They're barely more than children. This shouldn't be allowed to happen to them. This shouldn't be happening to them. You can't put a gun into a child's hand and call them a soldier.

When there's silence again, Nanami opens her eyes. Sonia's stood above her, a hand extended, a watery smile painted across her pale face. "I lost it for a second there," she apologises, "but it won't happen again."

Nanami takes Sonia's hand, and allows herself to be pulled up. Sonia pulls her close and holds her for a second in a warm embrace. "I'm so sorry," she whispers. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Nanami replies. "You were scared."

Sonia lets go of her, and smiles. "Come on," she states. "We've got a team to save."

* * *

**author's note: **was nanami the spy? was it hinata ? komaeda? sonia herself? maybe it was... jUNko enoshima? its up to you to decide  
real talk though im a huge nerd and i cried while writing this thats why i left it up to you to decide the ending. its more heartbreaking if you decide yourself whether they save hinata and the gang or whether sonia shoots nanami or whether sonia betrayed them or hinata betrayed them or komaeda betrayed them or whatever (originally, yes, it was going to be the notorious junko enoshima who leaked this information, but i preferred this ending so this is how i ended it)

thank you to everyone who has been taking the time to read and review this work! ill see you tomorrow.


	5. Day Five: School

There is a girl in Hinata Hajime's class who he's never spoken to. She has strawberry blonde hair that frames and curls around her face, and soft pink eyes that light with passion whenever she speaks of faraway or fictional lands, ancient myths, and old stories. From what Hinata can tell, she's also very fond of video games, since whenever he glances to the back of the class, she's playing one. She seems to be on a different handheld console every day, and Hinata's willing to bet she's got a dozen other consoles at home, plugged into various screens around her house. That would explain the dark shadows that lurk under her eyes and contrast perfectly with her pale skin.

She tags along with Sonia Nevermind and her little groups when she actually leaves the classroom, but usually she stays inside, her thumbs clicking rapidly and her face illuminated by an artificial glow. Even when she's with Sonia, she rarely speaks, her lips merely curling into a half-smile where Souda bursts into boisterous laughter. Every day Hinata vows to himself that he'll turn around and speak to her, say hi, maybe ask her to join him and Komaeda at break, and every day Hinata doesn't turn around and doesn't speak to her and takes his seat next to Komaeda, and he gives him this disappointed look, like he thought today would be the day Hinata actually spoke to the girl, even though that day never is.

He glances at the girl's desk again today, his gaze flicking up to meet those pink eyes as he does, and lingering too long, or at least long enough for the girl to look up from her game and notice, making a point of looking away. Komaeda sighs as Hinata sits down in the desk beside his, a sad smile lingering on his lips.

"If you don't say something to her soon, Hinata-kun, you'll miss your chance," he promises Hinata, turning to a fresh page in his work book, and beginning to note down what the teacher has written. The classroom is alive with the sound of loud, rowdy teenagers, all distracted from the work or trying to distract each other from their work. In the back right corner, furthest away from the teacher's desk, Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko makes angry noises that could be sentences to a focused Pekoyama Peko, who is both listening and completely ignoring him as she works. In the row in front of Hinata, Koizumi Mahiru cuts photographs into creative shapes and sticks them onto something Hinata can't see, while Saionji, who sits beside her, takes the cuttings that are leftover, and folds them into paper airplanes (the majority of which are shitty). In between mouthfuls of some sticky sweets, which Hinata can hear her chewing loudly, she throws these airplanes at Tsumiki Mikan in the front row. Owari and Nidai's voices are carried back from the front of the room, but not their words. Sonia and Gundam loudly deny being a couple when Hanamura asks about it, despite the fact it is plainly obvious they're holding hands under the desk. Paper meets pen several times over, and the same sequence of letters are scribbled down by different hands at different speeds in different scrawls.

Hinata knows that the girl's voice is not one of the many that echo through the room; it seldom is. Her soft voice isn't heard unless she is called upon for the answer, which she almost always is because the teacher never thinks she's paying attention, and yet somehow she almost always knows it. That realisation sinks in, and Hinata's grip on his pen tightens, along with his resolve. "I know," he tells Komaeda. "I'll say something to her soon."

He sighs again, sinking back into his seat. "I'm only suggesting you do it because I know how much you'll regret it if you don't," he reminds him, his tone soothing and motherly.

"Yeah, you've told me before," he nods.

He doesn't know why he wants to talk to the girl so badly. Maybe he just wants to give her a chance to speak about something that isn't science, mathematics, classical literature, or maybe he just wants to listen to her voice. He wonders what her laugh is like, since he's never heard it. He wonders how those eyes light up when she's smiling or laughing or enjoying herself.

The lesson carries on as it always does, with Souda and Gundam getting into an argument, Togami Buyukaya not turning up, Mioda loudly yelling and singing and Tsumiki politely asking her to stop, which is, as always, met with loud taunts from Saionji. Hinata doesn't care much for the book they're meant to be studying, and is well aware that he's falling behind on the workload purely because he can't be bothered to actually read it. Komaeda has been lending him his notes, but they both know that won't help him in an exam.

"Just thinking about reading two chapters of this per night is giving me a headache," he growls as he packs away his things at the end of the lesson.

"It's not that bad," Koizumi says, turning around from the desk in front of Hinata, smiling. "Once you get past the twelfth chapter, things really pick up!"

Beside her, Saionji groans before whispering, "They don't. They really don't. The entire thing is boring as hell."

Koizumi taps her lightly on the head with her copy of the book. From Saionji's left, Kuzuryuu mutters, "Honestly though, shooting yourself in the face is probably less painful than reading it," as he and Pekoyama push past on their way out for lunch.

"Well, I like it," Koizumi informs him stubbornly, turning to face him, scowling. Saionji nods in agreement (even though she doesn't agree) as she tries to shove food into her bag and her mouth so she can leave. Hinata notices that Nanami hasn't risen from her seat yet. His eyes meet Komaeda's, and his gaze seems to say; this is it. This is your chance.

The class begins to thin out as one by one the students leave. Hinata tucks his chair in and turns around to face the girl a few rows behind him. He navigates his way through the maze of seats and desks, until he's at the one in front of hers. He thinks about pulling out the chair, but then decides he wants to look cool and casual, so he leans back against the table, so he's kind of sitting on it but also kind of standing up. He can hear Komaeda stumbling through the desks behind him.

"Hi," Hinata says, finally, after closing his eyes and breathing in an attempt to control the rising panic in his chest. He licks his lips, worried for a second, but at the same time so unbelievably happy that he's finally introduced himself. He doesn't want the girl to know how long he's wanted this, but he's so happy that he's done it, because he's wanted it for so long. His beautiful, smart, genius of a brain tells him to keep the conversation going. "What are you playing?"

She doesn't even look up. "_Danganronpa_."

"Oh!" Komaeda is beside Hinata already. "I know that game! It's kind of like Ace Attorney meets Battle Royale, right?"

"Yep." Her eyes are still glued to the screen.

Hinata looks up at Komaeda, startled. Komaeda doesn't know anything about games. He narrows his eyes. "You don't know anything about games, Komaeda. How did you know that?"

Running a hand through his hair, Komaeda chuckles."Well, you and I watched Battle Royale together once, with Kuzuryuu, if you can remember back that far. And Mioda-san's always talking about games. I think she plays those one's with the teacher in them? You solve puzzles?"

The girl nods. "Professor Layton."

Komaeda smiles and nods. "Yeah, those ones."

Hinata continues to glare at him suspiciously. "I didn't know you've been talking to Mioda."

He shrugs. "We'll, we've been talking a lot recently and she's a very interesting person-"

"Yeah, I'm sure she is. Anyway," Hinata turns his attention back to the girl, "I'm Hinata Hajime." The girl nods, but doesn't look up from her game. Hinata notices a headphone dangling loose from one ear, and wonders how she got away with that all day. "Is this a bad time?" he asks.

"Not at all," she blinks a few times. "I'm just about to prove- Hang on, Machinegun Talk Battle ."

"Uh," Hinata looks up from her face to Komaeda's and then back down to her face again. "Machine guns?"

"It's probably a technical gamer term," Komaeda states, smiling in confusement.

The girl reaches towards her other headphone, and lifts it towards her ear. "Do you mind?"

Hinata shakes his head. "Not at all."

There's silence. Hinata and Komaeda look at each other for a while, and the girl concentrates on her game. Her thumb taps rapidly. The door clangs open again and Owari and Nidai return, clad in some form of sports uniform, complaining loudly. Hinata doesn't turn, but Komaeda considers himself everyone's friend, and so glances back.

"Everything alright, Owari-san?" Komaeda asks.

Owari throws her lunch onto her desk. "Yeah!" she shouts. "Yeah, there is something wrong! That damn 78th class are in the gym again, even though it's our turn!"

"Shouldn't you be able to get them to leave, then? I mean, if it's your turn in there."

She kicks her desk, fuming. "We tried that! Some wrestler chick and gang fighter are dueling in there! It's so lame! I mean, the old man challenged them to a fight but they think because we're younger, we're freak and fragile or something! It's stupid." Owari falls back into her chair, pulls out her lunch, and begins shoving it into her mouth. As she eats, she continues to cry, "We even got Mioda to try and pull us some strings, but all she ended up doing was talking to some dude with piercings about "punk rock" or whatever! Oh well," she says, suddenly perky, "at least we have more time to eat lunch now."

Nidai sighs and slips into his seat beside her. Hinata turns his attention back to the girl. She's staring at her screen with a mixture of horror, intrigue, sorrow and disgust. Her brows are furrowed, her eyes wide, and her lips trembling slightly. Then she sighs, closes her eyes and pulls her headphones outs. She licks her lips, then looks up, opening her eyes again. "Sorry about that," she says,"I was just watching the culprit get burnt alive... I think? She might have been hit by a truck. I'm not entirely sure... Hinata Hajime-kun, right?"

"Yeah..." Hinata nods, wondering just what the fuck her game is about.

She smiles. "I'm Nanami Chiaki."

Komaeda seems to realise at that point that they're introducing each other, and puts his hand up, loudly stating, "Komaeda Nagito!"

Nanami chuckles slightly, before asking, "Did you two want something?"

"No," Hinata shakes his head. "I just wanted to talk to you, I guess. Get to know you. You're always on your own and I kind of feel bad about it."

"You don't have to," Nanami is still smiling, but she looks distant, like she's focusing on something that isn't there, even though her eyes are fixed on Hinata. "I'm perfectly content-"

"I've been thinking about doing this for a long time," Hinata blurts out.

She nods. "I notice you glance back every now and again."

"Damn," Hinata mutters. "And I thought I'd been so subtle about it."

Komaeda shakes his head. "You weren't." This comment earnt him a sharp elbow to the stomach, and Hinata thinks he's hurt him, but Komaeda chuckles as he rubs his stomach and laughs,"Hinata-kun, that hurt!"

Nanami also smiles. "It was lovely meeting both of you, but I'd like to return to my game, if that's okay?"

Hinata's heart sinks, but he says, "Yeah. Yeah of course. What's your game about, actually?"

"I told you earlier," Komaeda states, but that just results in him getting elbowed again.

"You play as a student named Naegi Makoto and you are locked in a school for talented students and told if you want to get out, you have to kill someone," Nanami explains. "After every murder, there's a trial. You have to catch the culprit. The culprit is then executed."

"Oh," Hinata gulps. "That sounds... pleasant."

Komaeda shoots him a strange look. "Hinata-kun?"

"Yeah," Hinata nods. "Really fun. Really super fun. Super duper fun!"

Nanami's chuckling, and it's the sweetest little laugh Hinata has ever heard. "You can watch, if you like. You can borrow one of my headphones."

Hinata pulls up a seat beside her, and Komaeda says, "Can I watch too?" to which Nanami replies, of course, but he won't be able to hear the music or voice acting, and Komaeda says he doesn't mind because he can read perfectly fine, and as they play they talk and Hinata learns that Nanami doesn't live too far from Komaeda and himself and they make plans to walk home with her. She catches the same train they do. Komaeda laughs and talks about how lucky that is, and Nanami talks about the protagonist in her game being super lucky and wow, Komaeda-kun your voices is kind of like his, and Hinata-kun has hair like his too, what are the odds, and Hinata listens to their idle chatter and smiles to himself, because he knows Nanami will fit right into their tiny group, and he can feel it expanding into a trio already.

* * *

**author's note: **i edited an unfinished fic for another pairing to make this so if i ever upload a fic that exactly like this im sorry but im actually p proud of the original fic and if i finish it ill upload it (its for another fandom though so hopefully it wont matter that much im sorry)  
im also sorry this is late ive been hella busy. we break up in a week though so maybe i can write more than one fic a day.

now id like to talk about spoilers. itd be really cool if you could all talk about how spoilt you are for the dr series (including dr0 and sdr2) because obviously id like to hint at certain things that happen in canon, but they are spoilers. and i dont want to spoil anyone . the thing about tagging some spoilers is that, unless i say "this is a spoiler", when you read it, you could think its just an au. so im conflicted. (like in the last chapter i wanted to mention the future foundation or w/e but thats a spoiler, and i might want to make references to deaths or executions, which i almost did but then didnt in this chapter, so it would really help me out if you guys want to help me develop a spoiler policy)

finally, thank you for reading this. last chapter this fic suddenly got a surge of interest, and i hope youll all continue to enjoy it. i enjoy all of your reviews and feedback, especially jj, who always leaves better endings to the fics than the ones ive come up with

thank you.


	6. Day Six: Mythical Creature

Nanami Chiaki would leave, if she could. Or at least, she told herself that she'd leave if she could. She wasn't entirely sure.

She'd never been entirely sure of anything. She didn't remember much of her life before this, but she knew she was always making bad decisions. She was too trusting. Too gentle. Too carefree. She spent most of her time gaming, and when she wasn't gaming she was sleeping to make up for how much time she had spent gaming. She missed those days.

She got involved with some things she shouldn't have. Not on purpose. he was just kind of dragged into them. Mainly because of the girl who used to live next door to her. Back when she was a child, Nanami would have sold her soul to be able to play with Enoshima Junko and her friends. They were older than she was, and they were bigger than she was, and they were better than she was. She would watch them line up and play soldier games or deserted island games and arm themselves with sticks that were actually guns or swords. Nanami would press her hands against the window and she'd watch them fight and then fall, one by one, until Enoshima stood the sole victor, her older sister usually sacrificing herself so that she alone could win.

Nanami was never allowed to play with Enoshima and her sister and her friends. Thinking back on it, she didn't know whether it was her mother or her father who forbade her from joining in. She can't remember anything about her parents anymore.

Sometimes, she'd be allowed out of the house. She remembered that. And she'd always approach Enoshima, even though her parents said not too. She'd take tiny, tentative footsteps, and she'd stutter a greeting, and Enoshima Junko would look down on her in disgust. She'd ask Nanami what she wanted, usually calling her a maggot or a worm, and Nanami would always mumble that she wanted to play with Enoshima, and Enoshima would laugh and push her or hit her or kick her, and tell her no. Nanami was never allowed to play. She was too ugly or too fat or too stupid to join Enoshima's gang, and she'd always go home upset or crying.

That's why her parents didn't want her to talk to Enoshima. Nanami remembered that now.

She hadn't always stayed the chubby, awkward child that wanted to play with Enoshima though. She'd grown up. She'd never really forgotten what Enoshima used to say about her; the names and the comments about her appearance, but she grew into her nose eventually, and started cutting her hair in a style that was clean and even. She lost a lot of her excess weight as she grew, and by the time she was fifteen she was somewhat slender and curvy and her parents always told her that she was such a pretty little girl, she should go out and make friends and do fun teenager things and not be in the house on the computer all day.

But inside, Nanami was still the girl Enoshima had pushed and kicked. She didn't know who to hang out with or who to trust, and she didn't particularly want to. She made a few friends and didn't really speak to them. She kept herself to herself most of the time.

The thing was, the whole time Nanami had been developing and growing up, Enoshima Junko had been, too. And her gang had been. And those sticks they used as guns became real guns, and this group of rowdy teenagers terrorised the school and the town they lived in. Fujisaki Chihiro, who Nanami had befriended, told her that they couldn't have that, and that some of the other students had grouped together with all the other gangs in the neighbourhood to try and take them down. Fujisaki suggested Nanami joined this new gang, this gang that was fighting for a better future, but Nanami turned the offer down. She wanted nothing to do with Enoshima Junko.

Unfortunately, Enoshima Junko wanted everything to do with her, and when Nanami arrived home that night, instead of finding her house empty, she'd found her next door neighbour waiting for her.

"Well," she'd said, "it looks like the maggot next door got a lot larger when I wasn't looking. Must've fed on too much rotten flesh, gorged itself for years, to become this disgusting creature it is now. It's not even a maggot anymore."

Nanami swallowed. "It's nice to see you again too, Enoshima-san."

"Let's cut to the chase," Enoshima had taken that chance to leap from her seat. "You know why I'm here, don't you?"

But Nanami didn't know why Enoshima was there, and she was scared and afraid and shook her head frantically because she couldn't answer, and when she shook her head Enoshima smiled, and let out this little "tch" noise, and approached Nanami slowly, her eyes gleaming menacingly.

"No? Really? Is that the best you can manage? No idea as to why I'm here? None at all?"

"I'm afraid not," Nanami mumbled, and Enoshima reached her and licked her lips and let her smile fall, so it was softer.

"Why," she had changed her tone so that it was lighter, "I'm here to say that, after years of waiting, your request to join my gang has finally been approved! Isn't that wonderful!"

"But I-" Nanami began, but Enoshima has grabbed her and pushed her against a wall.

"Listen here, maggot, I need someone like you," Enoshima shoved her face against Nanami's and Nanami could feel and taste her breath. "I need someone who can get close to the enemy, and I know for a fact you can. So here's how it's going to work. You're going to join their gang, and you're going to bring it down from the inside. Any weapons they get, you sabotage or steal. Any plans they make? You leak 'em to me. There's no "if" "but" or "maybe" involved. You wanted this. You used to crave this. You used to be so desperate for my attention that you'd come back to me again and again even though you knew all I'd do was hit you. So now you've got my attention, and you're an asset to me. Be fucking grateful."

With that, Enoshima had released Nanami, and left. Nanami had slid down the wall and just sat, leaning against it, crying.

She'd still been sat there crying when her parents had come back. And the next day, she cried as she told Fujisaki everything that happened, and she'd shaken when Fujisaki took her to the leaders of Enoshima's rival gang, and she'd almost cried again when she told them what had happened.

"Interesting," Togami Byakuya, the first gang leader, had said in response.

"Yes, quite," the leader of the second gang, Kirigiri Kyouko, nodded. "But we already know Enoshima-san is cunning."

The third and final gang leader, Oowada Mondo, slammed his hands on his desk. "Fuck how cunning she is! How do we know we don't already have a rat in amongst us?!"

"Uh, well," Naegi Makoto, Kirigiri's ever present second-in-command, began, "I don't think Enoshima-san would have attempted to recruit Nanami-san if that was the case. But," Naegi had turned from Oowada to Nanami, "if you don't want to work with Enoshima-san, we could turn her own plan against her?"

Kirigiri's brow furrowed. "Use Nanami-san to gather information about Enoshima-san's movements?"

Nanami's stomach dropped when Naegi nodded, but she remembered realising that she either fought against Enoshima or with her. And she didn't want it to be with her.

It wasn't long until Enoshima knew their was a traitor in among her perfect gang of miscreants and thieves and liars and cheats and scum and murderers. And her first suspicion had been, of course, Nanami Chiaki.

That was why Nanami was where she was now; dead. She'd been murdered (and quite brutally, Nanami herself always thought) and left to rot. Her parents never found her body, and she'd never been laid to rest. Nanami supposed that was why her soul wasn't at peace.

Enoshima didn't live in the house next door to her anymore, and her parents didn't live in her house. She wasn't sure how long she'd been dead for, but if she had to guess, she'd say seven or eight years. It was definitely more than five, because the new owners of the house had been living in it for, and she'd been dead for at least a year before her parents moved away, and she'd been in this house alone for another year before the Hinatas moved in. She supposed she was haunting this house. She couldn't leave it. She guessed that was because, unbeknownst to the new owners, unbeknownst to her parents, the walls of this house had been the last place she'd even seen.

She'd died there, in her home. She remembered that. She can't feel anything now, but she liked to pretend she could touch things and shiver in the cold. The only feelings she really remembered was the pain that had surged through her as she'd died. She didn't really like to think back on her death. It hadn't been pleasant.

She had no idea what had happened to what was left of her body, but she was still in her house. Although, it wasn't really her house anymore. A small family lived there now. The son had a friend who could see her. That was nice. Sometimes he'd come round and he'd try to talk to her, which was also nice. He'd make promises she knew he wouldn't be able to keep, like he'd find Enoshima Junko and he'd find her body and he'd end this. She always told him he wouldn't be able to, but he'd just smile and say that he had extremely good luck.

Nanami would leave, if she could, but she couldn't. She'd tried several times, but it was almost like she was attached to the house. She told herself that she'd leave if she could, but she wasn't entirely sure. Because there was a boy living in her house, a boy who was close to turning eighteen, two years older than Nanami had been when she'd died. He had sticky up hair and soft olive eyes and an infectious laugh and Nanami knew without a doubt that she was in love with him. She did her best to help him; if he lost something she'd find it for him, she'd make sure his room didn't get too messy (partly because it used to be her room and she didn't want to see it destroyed completely), if he dropped something she'd catch it so it barely got damaged, and when he played video games (which he did, even though he was terrible at them), she would help him beat it, which she supposed was kind of cheating, but she didn't care.

Sometimes she wondered what life would be like. If she'd lived to be... She didn't even know how old she was now. She couldn't remember when she'd been born. She wondered though, if she'd grown up, would she have found her own Hinata Hajime? Someone who she loved and who loved her back and could see and hear and touch her and whisper sweet nothings to her as they fell asleep together, entwined in each others arms.

The Hinata Hajime she had now couldn't see or hear or touch her, but his friend Komaeda told her that if Hinata knew her, he would love her.

"You seem like the sort of girl he'd ask to hang out with us," he told her once.

"I don't think so, Komaeda-kun," she'd replied, shaking her head. "I'm plain and boring and-"

Komaeda laughed. "Nanami-san, you're literally a ghost! That's terrifying and also incredible!"

"I suppose," she shrugged. "But if I was alive-"

"Hinata-kun would love talking to you just as much as I do," Komaeda stopped laughing. "I mean, you're dead and you haunt this house and I get that must suck, but look on the bright side of things."

Nanami had argued that there wasn't a bright side; she was dead. Komaeda had said that if she had lived, he'd never had met her, and she'd never have met Hinata, and sometimes Nanami thought that even though he couldn't see her or talk to her or hear her or touch her, and even though he didn't know she existed, she got to watch a slightly assholish boy grow into a wonderful man, and she got to feel liked by his friend Komaeda, and she had a chance to experience things she never had when she was alive, like friendship, and love.

She supposed that if she was going to be stuck in this house forever, she might as well make the most of it, and be grateful for small blessings.

* * *

**author's note: **hhhhhhh ive been really hesitant about uploading this one because? ? im not very satisfied w it and its kind of lame but i dont really want to re-write it and yeah, it didn't come out the way i planned it but it came out and i dont want to get rid of it because i worked hard on it so. here you go. i hope you dont hate it too much.


	7. Day Seven: Fairytale

Kirigiri Kyouko and her partner Makoto had fought valiantly in a war that had plagued the land they lived in for many years, and as a reward they were given a substantial amount of land by the King. However, the one thing that they wanted more than anything was a child, but they never had one of their own.

To help him accept the fact he would never be a father, Makoto would spend a lot of time in the woodland they'd been gifted by the King. One day, while he was walking through the woods, he came across a wall. On the other side of the wall, there was a garden. It was a beautiful garden, every fruit and vegetable imaginable lined up in neat rows, all perfectly pruned and tended. Makoto wished he had a garden like that, and every day, when he went on his walk, he found himself returning to the garden again and again and again, until the thought of never being able to eat from the garden drove him to such despair that he scaled the wall, and landed on the other side with a soft thump.

Makoto could have had his pick of any of the fruits and vegetables there, but the one he really wanted was the rampion; a type of lettuce. He didn't know why, but the second he landed in the garden and saw it, he was driven out of his mind with longing. He filled his pockets with rampion, and then scaled the wall and ran back home as fast as he could.

That night, he made a salad out of the rampion. His wife didn't like it very much, but Makoto loved it. He ate his entire plate, and what was left over of Kyouko's as well.

When the two of them went to sleep that night, all Makoto could think about was that rampion, and how wonderful it had tasted. He tossed and turned in his sleep, working up a sweat, until the sun rose, and Kyouko found him fevered, shivering and sweating, boiling and freezing.

"My dear," she said, "is there anything I can do for you that will make you better?"

"Yes," Makoto mumbled, his voice croaky and his throat on fire. "I need you to walk through the woods, and find the white-brick wall. On the other side of it is a beautiful garden. Climb the wall, and take some of the rampion from the garden, and then I will be well again."

Kyouko asked, "But... whose garden is it?"

"I don't know," Makoto answered, "but I need some of that rampion!"

Kyouko nodded, and kissed her husband lightly on the forehead. "I'll return soon," she promised him, as he drifted into a troubled sleep.

It took Kyouko barely any time to find the garden; it wasn't hard to follow the trail Makoto had trodden into the ground. She quickly climbed the wall, and then found the rampion. She was about to leave when she heard a terrifying cackle from behind her, and knew that this wasn't any ordinary garden; it was the garden of a witch.

"Upupupupupu~ So you're the thief that's been rummaging in my rampion, are you?" laughed the witch.

Kyouko turned slowly to meet the witch's gaze. She had cold, icy eyes and a cruel grin on her face. Her hair was long, curled and golden, separated into two bunches, and she wore a long black and white dress. Kyouko thought she was probably one of the most beautiful people she'd ever seen, but was well aware that this could just be an illusion she was trying to put on.

"Please, Miss," Kyouko began, rising from the muddy ground she was kneeling in, "allow me to explain-"

"There's nothing to explain!" the witch hissed, her golden hair turning to spears and her brows furrowing. "You're stealing from me! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't smite you down, right now!"

"My husband is very sick," Kyouko said, calmly. "He claims that the only thing that can make him feel better is your rampion."

"Oh." The witch smiled, her hair softening into even, straight locks. "Well, in that case, I suppose I can make you a deal."

Kyouko was nervous, but she asked, "What is it?"

"I'll let you have my rampion," the witch began to smile cruelly again, "but in return I want you to give me your eldest child."

"I don't have any children," Kyouko told the witch.

"You don't?" Kyouko shook her head, and the witch's eyes widened. "How despair-inducingly awful for you! Here, I'll change the deal a little!"

Reaching behind her, the witch plucked some kind of fruit from a bush and handed it to Kyouko. "We'll make a little game out of this!" she laughed, beaming. "You can have my rampion, and on the next full moon, eat this fruit. Eventually, you'll fall pregnant. Now, here's the kicker; if the child you give birth to is a girl, you can keep her. If it's a boy, he's mine!"

Kyouko nodded her head frantically. "Thank you," she bobbed in a half bow, and then turned and ran.

As she scrambled over the wall, she heard the witch scream, "And if I see you in my garden ever again, Kirigiri Kyouko, you can bet that both you and your precious Makoto will be killed!"

...

Kyouko never told Makoto about her encounter with the witch, or about how the witch knew their names, or about the fruit that would let her conceive. She just gave him the rampion and nursed him back to full health, and on the next full moon she ate the fruit, and years later, after they'd both forgotten about the witch and rampion ordeal, Kyouko fell pregnant. Instantly filled with fear as she remembered the deal with the witch, she went to the local midwife, who told her that she was sure her child would be a girl, and then sent her to an apothecary, who sold her herbs and gave her a diet that would ensure her child would be a girl.

However, she gave birth to a boy.

Makoto, who didn't know anything about Kyouko's deal, was thrilled. He named their son Hajime and thought he was the most wonderful child in the world.

He was heartbroken later that night, when the witch broke down the door to their home and took Hajime after screaming at Kyouko and cursing her for trying to hide her son from his "rightful mother". The witch's curse meant that no matter how hard they searched, they'd never find their son, and the only way they'd ever see their son again was if Hajime himself searched for them.

The witch took Hajime to her home, and he grew up into a somewhat blunt boy with a bad sense of humour. However, the witch grew increasingly more paranoid that one day someone would take him from her they way she took him away from his parents, and so built a tower deep in the woods and locked him in it. He wasn't very happy about it, but she told him that was the way it had to be for him to be safe, and he believed her.

The tower had no door, and the only way anyone could enter was by calling, "Hajime-kun, Hajime-kun, let down your hair!" This would result in Hajime allowing his long brown hair to tumble down and down and down until it reached the base of the power, and the witch would grab on to it and scale the tower (although as Hajime grew older, she would just tie his hair around her waist and get him to pull her up). However, Hinata was bored, locked in the tower alone with nothing to do, and eventually he took to learning to play the guitar. He was truly gifted with it, and the forest was often drowned in his beautiful music. The music would attract foreign animals and exotic birds, which provided very good game, and so hunting parties would often take to it, riding on their strong horses and armed with bows and arrows.

The King's daughter, Chiaki, would often be asked to lead hunting parties through the woods, but she always turned them down and went alone. This was partly because she prefered her own company, and partly because she knows of a clearing where she can hear the most beautiful music. Sometimes, she goes to the woods and sits in the clearing, letting her horse graze, and just listens to it, surrounding herself in it. Whenever her father brought up marriage, Chiaki would think that she should like to marry whoever plays that music.

One day, when Chiaki was idly laying in the clearing, something spooked her horse and it suddenly bolted. Chiaki ran after it as fast as she could, but she was very tired and not as good at running as the horse was. She soon found herself lost in an unfamiliar part of the woods, but she wasn't scared because she could still hear the music. It was faint, but it kept her feeling safe, and so she decided to follow it. Soon enough, she found herself at a tower. For a while, she just sat in the shade and listened to the music, until a long brown rope seemed to come down, carrying a tall, beautiful woman with it. The woman hummed along with the music and skipped away from the tower, and after she was gone, Chiaki looked around the tower base for a while, but no matter how hard she searched, she couldn't find a door, or any way to make the rope fall down. So she sat down in the shade again, and listened to the music until she fell asleep.

When she woke up the next day, it was to the sound of shouting. Blinking sleep from her eyes, Chiaki watched as the tall woman from before stood at the base of the tower, and yelled, "Hajime-kun, Hajime-kun, let down your hair!"

Chiaki stood back in amazement as the rope fell down once again, and the woman tied it around her waist, and was hoisted up into the tower. "Hajime-kun must be the musician who plays so beautifully," she thought, resolving to sit down and wait until the woman had left, and then climbing the tower. She'd finally meet whoever it was that filled the forest with such beautiful harmonies, melodies soft and gentle and wonderful. Chiaki could hardly hold back her excitement, and she waited eagerly for the woman to leave. When she finally did, Chiaki's heart stopped for a second, and then as soon as the woman had left the clearing, she ran to the towers base, and sure enough, when she called, "Hajime-kun, Hajime-kun, let down your hair!" the rope came down, only when Chiaki grasped it she realised it wasn't coarse like rope, it was soft and silky, like hair.

When she finally climbed through the tower window, she realised that it was soft and silky like hair because it was hair, hair that belonged to a boy about her age, who was staring at her with shocked and beautiful, but bored, olive eyes. Chiaki couldn't look away from them. She didn't want to. It made sense, she supposed, for the boy who played the world's most perfect music to have the world's most perfect eyes, and for his eyebrows to furrow and shape his face in the most perfect portrayal of confusion.

Chiaki didn't know how long they were in silence for, but finally he said, "You're not Enoshima," and she realised that his voice was just as soft and melodic as the music he played.

"Sorry," she said in reply. "I'm very sorry. I'm Princess Chiaki. I've been waiting a very long time to meet you."

The boy still looked confused. "Why?"

She blinked a few times. "Because you play the most beautiful music in the world."

"Oh, I do?"

"Yes."

The boy paused for a minute, before gesturing to a chair. "I'll play some for you now, if you want."

Chiaki could barely hold in her excitement. "Oh! Please!"

And so he did, and after he played he sat there idly strumming and Chiaki learnt that his name was Hajime and that he'd lived there his whole life and doesn't really care about the outside world and he'd never met anyone other than Enoshima, the woman who looked after him, and as she listened to his words Chiaki found herself more and more determined to come back, so when she finally did leave she kissed his cheek gently and promised to come back tomorrow, and she did come back. She came back again and again and again and everytime she did she felt herself fall a little bit more in love with Hajime, and she taught him to play her favourite games and he taught her how to play the guitar, though she could never play it as well as he could, and she told him about outside and they talked about far away lands, about oceans and deserts and places neither of them had seen, and on cold or rainy nights they'd lose themselves in each other, making plans to leave this tower and this kingdom and see everything there is to be seen and live everything that life has for them to live and get married and get as far away from here, where Chiaki was imprisoned in responsibility and Hajime was imprisoned in his tower, and slowly, that bored, lifeless spark that lingered in those beautiful olive eyes started to soften, and it made Chiaki the happiest person in the world.

However, she wasn't the only person to see how alive Hajime looked.

When Enoshima noticed, she realised something must have been going on, and she was furious. She grabbed Hajime by his hair and sheared it off before throwing him from the tower. Scared and lost in a world he'd only ever talked about, he tried to find the city Chiaki had almost talked about, but while he was looking for her, she was riding through the forest to find him, and when she found the tower, and she called, "Hajime-kun, Hajime-kun, let down your hair!" like she always did, his hair did tumble down, and it was only once she reached the top of the tower she realised his hair no longer belonged to him.

Enoshima flung herself at Chiaki, screaming, and she bit and she tore and she claw and she scratched, until Chiaki fell backwards through the window, landing in a thorn bush, her skin lacerated, gash, grazed and mutilated, and she struggled out of the bush, running, blinded by her wounds.

She could have wandered through the woods, blind and bleeding, for years, but fortunately, and old man found her and took her into his home, where he treated her wounds. He and his wife let her stay with them, and promised she could stay for as long as she wanted, and Chiaki thanked them.

On warm days, the woman would help her find her clearing, and she'd sit in the shade with her while Chiaki hummed the melodies Hajime used to play that would fill it, until, one day, she hummed and heard it played back to her on an old guitar.

"Can you hear that?" she asked the woman.

"Hear what?" the woman replied.

"The guitar," Chiaki said, getting to her feet, shaking slightly.

"I can't hear a guitar," the woman insisted.

"Is there someone else here?" Chiaki called, both to the woman and to whoever was playing.

"No," the woman said, but another voice, a familiar voice, a voice Chiaki had been desperate to hear for an eternity, said, "I'm here," and she let out a relieved laugh and held open her arms and Hajime embraced her, his touch warm and welcoming, his kisses soft and plentiful. Chiaki felt herself crying, and she felt his tears drip down onto her faces, and as they fell on her eyes they healed her blindness, and not only could she see again but she could see him again, she could see her Hajime again, and she was the happiest anyone could ever be, and Hajime smiled like she'd never seen him smile, and later, when she introduced him to the couple who had been taking care of her, they smiled and they cried and they held him too, because he was their son and he'd been gone for years and Hajime had never felt so wanted.

That night, Chiaki and Hajime sat outside his parents' house, and they looked up at the moon and realised that they could do all the things they talked about in the tower, and see all the things they wanted to see, and go everywhere they wanted to go, but as they held each other, and they kissed softly, and they whispered sweet nothings in between their gentle caresses, they realised for the first time that there was nowhere they would rather be than right there.

* * *

**author's note:** sorry ive been gone for a while things have been crazy and im busy revising for my mocks in feb but im going to finish this as soon as i can. i tried to write this chapter like a children's book and it was really hard so sorry its not great. originally this was going to be little blue riding hood, with kamakura as the big bad wolf and komaeda as the grandpa, but when i was reading through kamakura's wiki i knew i had to do rapunzel and im not sorry. however literally the day after i saw frozen i was like frick i could have done frozen because nanami and kirigiri as anna and else is perfect and then you have hinata as the kristof dude and komaeda as the weird talking snowman that makes everyone feel uncomfortable so maybe just maybe if im still into danganronpa next chirstmas ill write that. i also really want to work on my hunger games au but i havent had time to re-read the book yet so im a little eh about it rn.

anyway thanks for reading and waiting it means a lot to me and i hope to see you all soon!


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